No. 133.] 261 



it is to be hoped that the advice taught in a modern popular song- 

 will not be entirely lost upon the costermonger (fruit seller) and 

 the tinker. The " hay " and " gee-wo " may accomplish nearly 

 all oce might require of a donkey, where every brutal blow may 

 gain nothing but a kick well merited. A maltreated wretched 

 horse is often as dull and obstinate as an ass. Indeed if the size 

 of the brain in comparison to that of the body can prove the in- 

 tellectual superiority of an animal, then the ass w^ould make a wiser 

 consul than Caligula's horse did. In the ass there is one part 

 brain for every two hundred and fifty four parts of the grosser- 

 materials; while in the horse there is only one part of the former- 

 to'every four hundred or in some cases to every seven hundred 

 parts of the other elements. 



The ass differs in size and abilities much — according to the cli- 

 mate it inhabits. In Syria a fine ass is sometimes more valuable 

 than a couple of horses. Mr. Frazer says that in Bagdad " most 

 of the learned and holy professions prefer the ass, and so do al2 

 the ladies. These asses are, I believe, of a particular breed and 

 from forty to fifty pounds sterling, is no uncommon sum for one 

 of great size, good blood and fine paces. The favorite color is 

 spotless white ; they are magnificently caparisoned and have their 

 nostrils slit, which is said to make them long winded. Heavea 

 knows their wind is long enough when they bray. The bray of" 

 an ass is not much admired generally — but the author of a scarce 

 tract on the nobleness of the ass 1595, after giving us all its 

 sweet notes, concludes by declaring that the continual braying ot" 

 five or six asses, form a melodious kind of music, " a song of 

 world without end." 



The ass is an excellent swimmer. In March, 1816, an ass be- 

 longing to Capt. Dundas, then at Malta, was shipped on board 

 the frigate Ister, bound from Gibraltar to Malta. During a storm 

 at sea, all the live stock was thrown overboard. The ass swam 

 to Point de Gat, and made his way from thence through tha 

 mountainous country, two hundred miles, to the very stable he 

 had last left. In a wild state he feeds chiefly upon the most sa- 

 line and bitter plants of the desert, such as the kalis, atriplice^^ 

 chenopodium, kc. Cornelius Agrippa, compares the domestic 



